Watch the accelerator on Bradley Boulevard west of Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda - the speed limit there dropped overnight from 35 MPH to 25 MPH. Maryland State Highway Administration crews replaced the speed limit signs along the road during the night. If the River Road speed change is precedent, expect the Montgomery County police to begin enforcing the new speed limit immediately.
 |
SHA worked through the night
to replace existing speed limit signs |
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New 25 MPH sign awaits
installation in SHA trailer |
 |
| Making the switch |
 |
| Erecting the new 25 MPH sign |
56 comments:
In light of all the recent accident tragedies i’m glad to see this stretch of road come down in speed limit.
"Overnight" is a problem? Should they have replaced the signs one-by-one in the middle of the rush hour? Should they have done it gradually and dropped it to 34, then 33, and so on?
5:20: Not only did I not say it was a "problem" that signs would change during the night, but I also reported this would be happening many days ago.
Off topic, but the Washington Business Journal has reported that WeWork has signed a huge lease at the Wilson, making the tower 80% pre-leased.
6:02: Let's stay on-topic here. No one is confusing We Work with Northrop, Amazon HQ2, Hilton Hotels, Volkswagen, IntelSat, Gerber, CEB, Nestle, etc., all of which chose to put their corporate HQs in Northern Virginia instead of Montgomery County. Shared office space leasing like WeWork provides some revenue, but is actually just filler when there's no market demand for actual corporate tenants.
The Wilson, has 348,000 SF of rental space, and Fox 5 New is taking 59,000 SF, so since WeWork is the only other tenant announced at this time, that means that WeWork might be leasing as much as 219,400 SF of office space, or as much as 10 floors of the building. This is huge news for downtown Bethesda!
Of course other tenants might be signed up, but unannounced, so WeWork might be smaller than above. In any case, 278,400 SF of office space pre-leased 1 year before the Wilson is completed is very impressive.
I wonder how leasing is going on the Avocet Tower?
7:08
Let's stay on-topic here. Marriott International, Orano USA, and Fox 5 all chose to relocate from elsewhere to downtown Bethesda instead of Northern Virginia.
And instead of seeking cheaper rent in Northern Virginia, Enviva, ProShares, Fidelis, Cybersecurity, RapidAdvance, Pebblebrook and many many others decided to pay a premium and expand in Bethesda over Northern Virginia.
Office tenants choose Virginia over Bethesda for one reason. airports. If it wasnt for National and Dulles Tysons would still be cow pastures and Rosslyn would be strip malls and car dealerships.
Oh and if WeWork equals "filler" then DC is in big trouble lol
Sorry, ProShares has also signed a lease in the Wilson for 55,000 SF, so that leaves as much as 164,400 for WeWork, or about 8 floors.
7:17: Who is leasing is as important as how much. Little companies don't have much impact. Coworking space doesn't have an economic development halo effect. 219,400 SF of coworking space sounds crazy, it can't possibly be that much. There's also no way that WeWork is paying the kind of rent that Northrop or Amazon would have been. If I were an investor, I would not be pleased that 80% of the building was leased by a tv station and a coworking space.
Again, this is why we need elected officials who actually understand this stuff, where the current folks think economic development is farmers markets and 9-person software vendors.
7:17
WeWork is taking roughly 60,000 SF. Remember Enviva and ProShares have also taken about 155,000 SF combined.
Stonebridge says interest is "high"...but so does every other owner. The market for the rents they're asking isnt that deep...it should lease up, but not as quickly as the Carr or JBG buildings...unless of course they nab one of the fortune 500s that Robert likes to salivate over.
7:34: LIE DETECTOR: Marriott was already in Montgomery County. Orano and Fox 5 are not major corporate HQs by any means. None of the other companies you mentioned are either. In fact, Montgomery County hasn't attracted a major corporate HQ in over twenty years.
You miss the key point about airports - we could have had direct access to Dulles if the County Council had long ago built the new Potomac River crossing to Dulles. Their failure to do so is one of the prime causes of our moribund economy and 0% major HQ statistic over two decades.
"There's also no way that WeWork is paying the kind of rent that Northrop or Amazon would have been"
Ummm....that's definitely not the case
You might get a real shock out of seeing the rent JBG is getting for Amazon in Crystal City and what JBG is asking at 4747 Bethesda.
As a general rule, larger tenants pay less per foot than smaller tenants. And a juggernaut like Amazon has even more leverage to not only demand even lesser rents, but also a crapload of concessions, especially for the empty buildings in a submarket like Crystal City.
The 7:34 comment didn't say Marriott was'nt in Montgomery County before. When Marriott left Rock Spring they could have easily moved to Tysons, but they chose Bethesda. Speaks volumes.
Lol no matter how many bridges you build, Tysons will still be closer to IAD and Rosslyn will be closer to DCA. What idiot would drive from Bethesda north up 270, west across a bridge, then back south to Dulles anyway?
Guy says to stay on topic and proceeds to stay off topic.
If a new Potomac River bridge had been built years ago, by this time it would also be grid-locked and we'd be talking about a 3rd bridge on this side of town.
“There's also no way that WeWork is paying the kind of rent that Northrop or Amazon would have been.” - Robert Dyer
So you don’t know that. How can you make a claim?
“If I were an investor, I would not be pleased that 80% of the building was leased by a tv station and a coworking space.” - Robert Dyer
Well you aren’t an investor are you?
7:53: How would WeWork be able to afford higher rent than Amazon? Think about it.
7:59: Marriott never planned to leave, they just wanted cash and concessions from MoCo and Maryland taxpayers. The Marriott execs all live in Potomac. But they had us over a barrel as one of the last few Fortune 500s, so we had to do what it took. What actually "speaks volumes" is MoCo attracting NO major corporate HQs in over two decades. Humiliating!
"LOL," especially with express lanes on the Beltway and 270, the new bridge would take about 20 minutes from Bethesda or Silver Spring to Dulles.
8:02: You aren't an investor, either, so you can't claim I'm wrong.
Where are you getting these numbers on how the bridge will be built, pay for itself, and improve traffic? Where are you getting the data on where the bridge will be built?
All you do is repeat the same talking points. But never have any actual facts to back up your claims.
I concur.
Prove it.
You never show on a map where it will be. Saying there is all this ‘open space’ is pointless because you never show WHERE that open space is.
Tell us what businesses, private homes, farm land will be paved over. Saying almost none is not an answer. It is just repeating the same non answer.
Tell us how much it will cost the county. Telling us ‘next to nothing’ isn’t an answer because it sure won’t be free.
The 2nd bridge crossing would be near I-370 on the MD side, and VA-28 on the VA side. VA-28 leads right to Dulles. Look them up on a map, and it's about 8 miles to connect them. Both sides were upgraded to interstate standards so they are ready. Of course, it'll never happen as MoCo NIMBYs will be in massive opposition. The route would require entering the bottom corner of the Ag Reserve for a mile or two, and that's absolute heresy.
Robert you really are pathetic. I’m supposed to look it up on a map? No idiot YOU want this bridge it is your job to sell it. Once again you won’t answer any questions because you can’t.
Yea I looked at a map and your magic fairy dust won’t clear the hundreds of houses out of the way.
That so called empty space you drone on about is private property. You want the deep state of Montgomery County to just take it by force if the owners won’t sell?
You say this land is set aside? Prove it with the proper documentation.
You STILL can’t answer how much this will cost to build and maintain. “Next to nothing” means you have no idea. How much would the tolls be? Yea you can’t answer. What company would build it? You don’t know. What about on the Virginia side? Who owns that land? How is Virginia supposed to get that land?
Stick to reviewing food and shaking your impotent fist at the council . Somebody who cares about you needs to step in and save you from more embarrassment.
Insult me, threaten me, delete my post. All that does is prove me right.
Bethesda and Silver Spring have had "direct access to Dulles" for 55 years now.
However, there is no conceivable way you can get there by car in "20 minutes", as the straight line distance between Dulles and downtown Bethesda is 19 miles, and between Dulles and downtown Silver Spring is 23 miles.
Also, if the "Second Crossing" and "Outer Beltway" were built, driving from either Bethesda or Silver Spring to Dulles would ADD 3 MILES over the current route via the Beltway.
It would be 33 miles between downtown Silver Spring and Dulles via the "Second Crossing", and to get from one to the other would require you to drive at 100 MPH for the entire route. (Including on Georgia Avenue.)
7:47: I've already explained to you how the new, tolled Potomac River crossing and Express Lanes would indeed allow 20 minute trips to Dulles - and more importantly, direct access from Montgomery County and the I-270 corridor in particular, where we should be recruiting aerospace, defense and tech campuses to relocate.
If you are illiterate, that's beyond my control.
7:29: Next to nothing means next to nothing. Private firms build toll roads and get their money back through tolls, which can't exceed a reasonable amount because if no one uses it, the company can't make their money back. Remember, I-66 is a government-run toll scheme, and they are actively trying to both punish drivers and raise money for transit projects via tolls there.
Virginia has been trying to get Maryland to agree to build the bridge for years. They already raised Route 28 to interstate standards for that very purpose.
No private entity owns the parkland running from Sam Eig Highway to the Potomac. There are no "houses in the way." You are the weakest link. Goodbye.
6:32: In the new age where the Council could finally defeat the Columbia Country Club, there's no group with their clout that can stop us from doing anything the Council wants going forward.
"No private entity owns the parkland running from Sam Eig Highway to the Potomac"
There is no continuous strip of parkland running between the south end of Sam Eig Highway and the area where the "Second Crossing" has been proposed.
And even if there were, you can't just take parkland and build highways there.
7:59: Yes you can. That particular one was set aside decades ago as a highway facility.
I repeat:
There is no continuous strip of parkland running between the south end of Sam Eig Highway and the area where the "Second Crossing" has been proposed. No land has ever been acquired beyond the south end of Sam Eig Highway. You could easily prove me wrong by posting a map showing the existence of that. But you can't, because it has never existed, outside of your overactive imagination.
And even if there were, you can't just take parkland and build highways there. Federal law places severe restrictions on doing that.
Saith Dyer: "Virginia has been trying to get Maryland to agree to build the bridge for years."
Saith Reality: "In 2000, Congress authorized $2,000,000 to conduct a feasibility study of the Techway. Congressman Frank Wolf asked that the study be canceled the next year because homes in his Congressional district would have to be destroyed in order to build the Techway."
8:08: Frank Wolf is out of office. His district was not and is not in Montgomery County, where there are no houses in the way of the new Potomac crossing.
8:07: Even a gorilla can follow the green corridor on Google Maps from Sam Eig Highway to the Potomac.
It's not a park; it's a highway facility set aside many decades ago for this road.
“It's not a park; it's a highway facility set aside many decades ago for this road.”
Prove it.
Prove it
6:19: "The United States has a Constitution."
Saul Alinsky: "Prove it."
There is a massive trove of decades-old documents from the federal government's plans for a full DC-area freeway system. It's up to you to do that research, Boy Friday.
The age-old question - if you have no knowledge of the subject, and I have vast knowledge of it, why are you even questioning anything I've said? You're in no logical position to do so.
"There is a massive trove of decades-old documents from the federal government's plans for a full DC-area freeway system. It's up to you to do that research, Boy Friday."
Of course there were plans for a huge network of freeways in the region made, and then cancelled, a half-century ago. No one disputes that.
Your claim is specifically that there is an existing right-of-way connecting the south end of Sam Eig Highway to the Second Crossing. This is of course false.
"I've already explained to you how the new, tolled Potomac River crossing and Express Lanes would indeed allow 20 minute trips to Dulles - and more importantly, direct access from Montgomery County and the I-270 corridor in particular, where we should be recruiting aerospace, defense and tech campuses to relocate."
Where? Link to it. If you're going to go all "I've already told you," then you must not have any faith in what you propose. If you actually believed that 20 minutes BS, you'd be jumping thru hoops to prove yourself.
So, let's say you and "Roald" are in Bethesda at...hmmm...the Woman's Farm Market...a nice central location. The new crossing is that 370 option.
How are you and your buddy "Roald" going to get to Dulles in 20 minutes?
9:22 AM 8/3/19
"The age-old question - if you have no knowledge of the subject, and I have vast knowledge of it, why are you even questioning anything I've said? You're in no logical position to do so." - Dyer @6:29AM
wow.
um.
SMH
I’m not an astronomer but I am pretty sure the earth revolves around the sun and not you.
Building the Second Crossing and Outer Beltway would cut 7 miles off the trip from areas north of I-370 and the ICC to Dulles. But using that route from Bethesda and Silver Spring would ADD 3 miles to the trip.
It will NOT somehow make everywhere in our County "20 minutes" from Dulles. That's more of Dyer's Magical Thinking.
6:52: The actual question is, how would you get to National, Dulles or BWI using the existing roads faster than I would get to Dulles from the farm women's market using the new bridge? (Hint: You couldn't)
Once you get on the Beltway and use the future Express Lanes and theoretical new bridge, it would indeed be only 20 minutes to Dulles. You would not even be halfway to ANY airport using the old routes after 20 minutes.
6:40: Even a gorilla can see the green corridor on Google Maps between Sam Eig Highway (by the new big box gym) and the Potomac River. It goes all the way, "ya big baby."
Could you post a map highlighting that "green corridor" for those of us who do not have Gorilla vision?
"Once you get on the Beltway and use the future Express Lanes and theoretical new bridge, it would indeed be only 20 minutes to Dulles"
The only point in Montgomery County that would be "20 minutes from Dulles" would be the north end of that bridge in Seneca.
"The actual question is, how would you get to National, Dulles or BWI using the existing roads faster than I would get to Dulles from the farm women's market using the new bridge? (Hint: You couldn't)"
Dulles Airport is already twice as far away from downtown Bethesda than National. How is taking a route that ADDS 3 MILES to that trip going to magically going to make it quicker?
7:25: I'm virtually never wrong, so why would I falsely claim I had been, Saul?
7:22: LOL - you are severely logistically-challenged, Magellan. Not only is Route 28 directly across the river awaiting the new highway/bridge connection, but the travel time would be a fraction of any current route to Dulles.
7:11: Total BS. You obviously know nothing about variable tolling or Express Lanes.
7:09: How would I post a map when comment sections do not allow graphics to be posted?
What vast knowledge? Tell us Mr. Never Wrong what are credentials? You actually major in public planing? You ever held a job in the field? Ever held any job at all? Freakin greasy haired ponytailed man boy.
There is a massive trove of decades-old documents from the federal government's plans for a full DC-area freeway system. It's up to you to do that research, Boy Friday.
God this is hilarious and pathetic at the same time.
Why am I questioning? Because there is no evidence that you know what you are talking about or that any of it is based in reality.
Who raised you? They did a crappy job if you think you are special and like a really smart stable genius.
12:35: I'm not only a very stable genius, but I also have a very big brain.
The same can't be said for you, as you are questioning the existence of documents signed off on by the very real President John F. Kennedy decades ago.
9:19: Kind of like your face and your garbage Boy Friday job for the County Council. Save us all the strength and punch yourself.
9:14: In fact, unlike the drifters and grifters on the County Council, I extensively studied urban planning while majoring in Latin American history.
"I'm not only a very stable genius, but I also have a very big brain...Kind of like your face and your garbage Boy Friday job for the County Council. Save us all the strength and punch yourself."
Looks like someone has a case of 'The Mondays'.
Seriously, I can't picture Bob Woodward ever writing gibberish like this.
I extensively studied urban planning while majoring in Latin American history."
So what courses did you take? Did you minor in Urban Planning?
What jobs have you had related to Urban Planning, in the quarter-century since you graduated from college?
5:14: No, I can't imagine a corrupt CIA agent like Bob Woodward chastising a criminal like you, either.
5:16: My knowledge of, and training in, the field of urban planning far exceeds that of anyone currently serving on the Council or Planning Board. What jobs have you had in the quarter century since you got out of prison? Oh, that's right, Boy Friday for the County Council.
Stable Genius
"A corrupt CIA agent like Bob Woodward"
LOL, when did you turn on your former role model?
"My knowledge of, and training in, the field of urban planning far exceeds that of anyone currently serving on the Council or Planning Board. What jobs have you had in the quarter century since you got out of prison? Oh, that's right, Boy Friday for the County Council."
Sounds like you haven't had any relevant jobs, then. And probably not any jobs, period.
I'm sure Bob Woodward thinks as highly of you as you do of him. CIA agent...so silly...you don't know much about the CIA, certainly not as much as you think you do.
Can we just put this to rest with a graphic and analysis?
5:45: You obviously don't know much about Bob Woodward's suspicious intelligence agent career path that landed him at the Post with amazing "scoops" from his CIA handlers.
So multitalented! I do seem to recall you know more about meteorology than any so called meteorologists who majored in the subject.
More conspiracy theories? More rhetoric? Even after seeing how words have consequences? Your actions are Disgusting.
6:48 AM 8/5/19
Robert you have more scoops than a dog walker
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